myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Here is question that I'm sure will give the Brits a chuckle. I have experience driving on the left (British "right side of the road") but have never driven a manual transmission from the right side of a vehicle. For those of you who may have driven on the "wrong side" before, is this tough to get a handle on? I would like a four-wheel drive but don't want to spend my trip grinding gears. I drive a manual daily but am not sure if this "old dog" can be taught a new trick. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Art

Welcome aboard!

The answer is simply, surely - get an automatic, then simply relax and enjoy the scenery. Lots of the 4x4's are available in both manual and auto.

Hi Art,

Being a swedish native I grew up driving on the right sideof the road like yourself not the wrong side like the irish and English.

I found it hard at first but it only take a couple of minutes to get use to, it's strange but it seems to be easier to get use to when you are in the car cause you sit on the wrong side as well and it kinda flows, plus the third time you hit your elbow in the door tryingt to change gears you kinda learn quicker...

Our side of the road is the correct side to ride on.It came from the days of chivalry.
Also you would be very surprised how many countries drive on the left.
(Tobago doesn't count 'cos they use the middle )
David(knight of the road)

Hi Art,

As Lina says it will take a couple of minutes for you to stop throwing your right arm out of the window but once you've got used to selecting with your left arm grinding gears won't be a problem.

As a hobby I used run an old Pontiac, you get used to it quickly.

Hi Art,

It works the other way for us Brits too! We have hired cars in Europe with left hand drive for several holidays. Once you've tried to change gear with the door handle a couple of times you soon get the hang of it.

Incidently, my husband Hugo gave me a really good rule for remembering which side of the road to drive on when abroad. His advice was always to keep him in the gutter (like at home)! It works a treat!

Seriously - you will feel stange for a short time, then have no problems at all. The next problem is when you get back home and back to your own car which is the "right" way round - and feels quite odd to drive away from the airport!

Whether you get a manual or automatic - enjoy driving round Tobago. It's an experience!

Jane

Thank you much for the advice. Whichever I decide it's good to know that on Tobago there is a right a left and a middle of the road.

Art.yup,there are indeed left,right and centre of the roads,but off the main highway it only seems the centre that is used by locals!!!!!
David

Actually Tobago is a bit like Greece in terms of driving style. They don't drive on the left or the right - they drive on the "best bit"! Makes for some interesting confrontations at times! (Coach versus water lorry anyone? Neither gave way - and how we missed each other I still don't know!)

Jane

Yes, the "best bit" does often mean your side of the road! Fortunately the 180 degree bend was not completely blind, so I could see the approaching car on "my" side, in fact he was almost over the edge. I was also overtaken at night on the Claude Noel by a car without headlights, although my passenger says that they did work when it hit a bump in the road & then they went out again. Oh yes, do watch out for the telegraph pole in the middle of the road, as well as goats & chickens, and pot holes. My mountain road driving in Spain & Italy was an excellent preparation for Tobago. Drive very carefully!

I would second the "drive carefully" advice, having recently returned from a visit where we had bikes for a day, and a car for three days.

The biking day was Nov 5th, General Election day, and it might have been a good day for it, given that lots of businesses were closed. We established that cycling on the pavement (sidewalk) is acceptable - with great care, of course - and this does have its advantages. The urban roads have quite deep gutters which are unpleasant to cycle into and out of, and the traffic tends to whiz past rather closely. That being so we got off the Crown Point road swiftly and explored the little roads leading north towards the Bon Accord lagoon, and up as far as Buccoo. I can recommend this; it's a great way to see the locality, and you can stop at any moment when you see something interesting, as we seemed to do every five minutes.

The hire company gave us a Daihatsu Terios http://www.daihatsu.co.uk/terios/ which was admirably suited to the Tobago roads. It was good to know that the 4WD option was there, although in fact I never used it, and the air conditioning was up to the job, if only just. There's meant to be a 50 kph (30 mph) speed limit on almost all the roads, but as tourists in an R-plate car we were regularly overtaken by locals going much faster than that! Good luck to them. I needed to be careful, as I never knew when rounding a corner whether I would find one or more of (i) a pile of hedgerow cuttings, (ii) a sleeping dog, (iii) a landslip, (iv) the road surface washed away or (v) a road crew repairing an instance of (iv).

The major roads, marked in yellow on the ubiquitous Skyviews map http://www.skyviews.com/tobago/tobagoroadmap.html, are generally of good quality, though they often wind and climb in interesting and exciting ways, and are by no means immune to any of the above hazards. Road signs exist sometimes, but quite major junctions are easily missable. Just factor this in to your planning: all the main roads go somewhere!

The minor roads, marked in white on the map, are more of a challenge, certainly, and are not for the truly fainthearted nor to be driven in something with limited ground clearance. For instance, I spent a lot of time in first and second gear on the road from Mount St George to Greenhill Waterfall and the Hillsborough Dam, but I enjoy that sort of driving. Greenhill Waterfall and its gardens are a little gem, by the way, though protected by miles of difficult road.

Tobago is a great place to explore, and I think that you'll miss a good deal if you don't get out under your own steam where you can choose your destination, make mistakes getting there, and stop whenever you like. A final piece of advice: keep an eye on the fuel gauge! I forgot that all that low gear work drinks petrol (gas, if you must!) and we had a tense drive from Roxborough to Charlotteville, coasting down the hills in neutral to conserve the remaining two pints in the tank before we found a filling station, of which there are only a few on the island.

Jonathan,

If you didn't mean going from Charlotteville to Roxborough with a low tank , then you were indeed lucky to get gas in C-ville. When I am there during Jan. to April the station in C-ville is usually without gas a couple of days a week. Sometimes it is has been out for close to a whole week.

Many a night I have made the gas run to Roxborough with as many cans as I can carry for the fishermen. Over the years I have suggested always keeping a full can or 2 as back up. Some have listened but I still end up making the trip. The guys from Speyside will have pickups with 10 to 20 cans. If you are in Roxborough then the the wait can be an hour or more.

I always fill up in Roxborough when returning to C-ville even if I have 3/4 of a tank.

When (if, as Steve says) the new jetty/pier gets built in C-ville it is supposed to have gas and diesel for the fishermen. Then, in theory, there should be be a better supply for cars and vans.

In general anyone who is going to rent a vehicle and intends to drive up to C-ville should always have a full tank. Also you should consider topping the tank in Roxborough. Doing a day trip up the Caribbean coast can use alot of gas.

Phil

Phil,I tried to contact you but was getting bounced back.Send to [email protected].
Chhers,David

Phil Bondie wrote:If you didn't mean going from Charlotteville to Roxborough with a low tank , then you were indeed lucky to get gas in C-ville. ... Doing a day trip up the Caribbean coast can use alot of gas.

Phil - yes I did mean Roxborough to Charlotteville - it went this way: we set off from Crown Pt up the Caribbean coast with a quarter of a tankful, and I just clean forgot about fuel until getting over to Roxborough, heading for Argylle Falls, when I saw the needle on "E". I found the filling station in Roxborough but there was "no current", i.e. no electricity to pump the fuel, so we looked at the map and thought C-ville the closest. If I'd known there was a chance of the filling station being closed, the journey would have been even tenser! Moral of the story: fill up often! In the end I gave the car back with more fuel in it than when I got it, but that's better than running out.

mmmm no wonder you had problems Roxbro' is on the Atlantic Coast!So you went all the way the North Road,thru' Mason,Moriah,past Castara to Parlatuvier through the ridge to Rox with no fuel in the tank????????????????????????????
David

I can't resist a question with that many ??s

We left Crown Point with a Terios and a quarter tank of petrol, missed the turn for the Shirvan Road, cut back from Lambeau towards Buccoo, went up the Caribbean coast and missed the turn for the Arnos Vale Road, stumbled around Plymouth a bit, got back on course, got confused somewhere and went down to Culloden Bay and back up again, drove up through Castara and Parlatuvier and as far as the bridge at Bloody Bay, then doubled back and over the Ridge road to Roxborough. Is it surprising we were running on fumes by the time we got from there to Charlotteville via Speyside? By the third day I wasn't getting lost quite so often

How many days now, boy?

Jonathan,definitely a journey of exploration,did you find anf treasure trove?
David

David Watkins wrote: definitely a journey of exploration, did you find any treasure trove?

Only everywhere! This was our first excursion beyond the lowlands, remember. I have no idea how many times we stopped to admire the view, or spot yet another new bird - somewhere between a lot and a helluva lot!

By the way, I was carrying a GPS receiver, so I have tracks corresponding to all the roads we travelled, but I didn't have any digital maps for Tobago, (otherwise I might not have got lost as frequently!). It was my intention to clean them up and submit them to OpenStreetMap but if they're of any use to anyone just let me know.

jnorichards [at] blueyonder [dot] co [dot] uk

Jonathan